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Our research addresses the approach of Western European newspapers’ reports on the negotiations preceding the Russo-Japanese war, from September 1 to November 30 of 1903, to provide an alternate narrative to the events. We have taken into account six Belgian and three European newspapers’ reportage on the negotiations and related issues in East Asia in the months running up to the Russo-Japanese war of February 1904 to September 1905, providing a background to both newspaper journalism in Europe and the development of the war. The negotiations started on August 12, 1903 between Japan and Russia and discussed the rights of the empires in the Manchurian and Korean regions. The background information has been gathered through a literature study, whereas the research analysis is provided using a combination of frame analysis and media content analysis. Analysing chronologically by month, September is yet non-confrontational, but several newspapers notice emerging tensions. Throughout October following the non-evacuation of Manchuria by Russia, reports alternate between the negotiating powers taking provocative actions and the denial of said actions being conflictual. Finally, November reports prioritise the Russian conflicts with first China and later Korea over the Russo-Japanese tensions, initiated by the Mukden incident. From this research, we could conclude that: article frequency proportioned to the severity of the tensions whereas article length parallelled the duration of the negotiations; no newspaper had any evident political leaning, instead focusing on objective reportage.